. The Announcer ...................................................
. a weekly digest of calls . actions . websites . campaigns . etc .
. send your announcements and notes to announcer {AT} simsim.rug.ac.be .
. please don't be late ! delivered every friday . into your inbox .
...................................................................
00 . . about The Announcer
01 . Andreas Broeckmann . DEAF98 publication: The Art of the Accident
02 . Carey Young . Atomic
03 . nomadnet . Open Spaces/Linked Locations II: Sound
Environments
04 . Gerald O'Connell . ArtVirus Alert
05 . Jebediah Brushwell . MEME - memeflurry '98
06 . Jon Stratton . Race Daze
07 . J. Blank HGB Leipzig . slashtemp
08 . Alessandro Ludovico . Neural, cyberculture magazine
09 . andreas hagenbach . Fwd: Anti-MAI-Kampagne
10 . dogfilm . Invitation-Einladung
................................................................... 00
The nettime announcer has transformed into two separate, independent
mailing lists:
. The Announcer: daily, unmoderated, undigested
<announcer {AT} simsim.rug.ac.be>,
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Subscription info can be found at http://simsim.rug.ac.be/announcer/
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Please send your announcements to <announcer {AT} simsim.rug.ac.be> from now on -
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generate double-postings and unnecessary work for the moderators.
The Announcer and The Weekender are maintained by Fokky and Andreas
Hagenbach <annonceurs {AT} simsim.rug.ac.be>. Extra volunteers are warmly
welcomed; comments, criticism, suggestions and questions are appreciated.
................................................................... 01
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 18:27:56 +0100
From: Andreas Broeckmann <abroeck {AT} v2.nl>
Subject: DEAF98 publication: The Art of the Accident
Book Publication: The Art of the Accident
On the occasion of DEAF98, V2_ Organisation and NAI Publisers are
publishing a book that is more than a catalogue of the festival, its
exhibition projects and participating artists. The fully illustrated book
takes a synthesising approach towards the intersecting practices present in
the festival, outlining the basics of an ars accidentalis.
The Art of the Accident also includes essays and interviews by:
N. Katherine Hayles (USA), Perry Hoberman (USA), Knowbotic Research+cF
(D/A), Steve Mann (CDN), Brian Massumi (AUS), Humberto Maturana (CHI),
Marcos Novak (USA), Dick Raaijmakers (NL), Lars Spuybroek (NL), Otto E.
Roessler (D), and Paul Virilio (F).
Articles about the projects of the DEAF98 exhibition and other programmes,
including: Mark Bain (USA), Calin Dan (RO/NL), Masaki Fujihata (J), Perry
Hoberman (USA), JODI (NL/B), KIT (GB), Knowbotic Research+cF (D/A), Gunter
Krueger (D), Seiko Mikami (J/USA), Debra Solomon (NL), VinylVideo/Gebhard
Sengm¸ller (A), Tamas Waliczky (H), Herwig Weiser (A/D), Aaron Williamson
(GB), Bureau of Inverse Technology (USA), Association of Strategic
Accidents (D), John Bain (USA), programm 5 (D), Karoly Toth (HU/NL), Zoltan
Szegedy-Maszak + Marton Fernezelyi (HU), and Timothy Druckrey (USA).
Documentation of the transArchitectures 02 + 03 at the Netherlands
Architecture Institute with works by: ABB/ TUD B. Franken (D), Arakawa/
M.Gins (USA), Asymptote (F), Maurice Benayoun (F), Objectile/Cache Beauce
Hammoudi (F), Karl S. Chu (USA), CyberNetiK[A] (B), Decoi (F), degre zero
(F), Neil Denari (USA), Dunne + Raby (GB), Ammar Eloueini (F), John & Julia
Frazer (GB), Christian Girard (F), Gregoire Kligerman Petetin (F), LAB [au]
(B), Greg Lynn (USA), F. Meadows/ F. Nantois (F), Ben + Laura Nicholson
(USA), Marcos Novak (USA), NOX/ Lars Spuybroek (NL), Kas Oosterhuis (NL),
Reiser + Umemoto (USA), ROCHE, DSV & Sie (F), Philippe Samyn (F), Nasrine
Seraji (F), Adrien Sina (F), Neil Spiller (GB), Bernard Tschumi (F/USA).
The book The Art of the Accident can be purchased or ordered at every
bookstore in the Netherlands, at the Netherlands Architecture Institute
Rotterdam, and at V2_Organisation, Rotterdam. During the DEAF98 festival,
it is also available at all other festival locations.
256 pages full colour, price: HFL 49,50
(during the festival, on location, HFL 45,00 with discount coupon)
Published by NAi publishers and V2_Organisation
ISBN 90-5662-090-8
Check the DEAF98 website for text excerpts: http://www.v2.nl/deaf (projects)
Further information:
DEAF98
V2_Organisatie
Eendrachtsstraat 10
3012 XL Rotterdam
T ++31 10 206 7275
F ++31 10 206 7271
deaf {AT} v2.nl
URL: http://www.v2.nl/deaf
DEAF98 TUE 17- SUN 29 NOVEMBER 1998
................................................................... 02
From: "Young, Carey SR" <Carey.Young {AT} capgemini.co.uk>
Subject: Atomic
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 23:14:14 -0000
Why not sculpt with radioactive material?
ATOMIC
New Works by James Acord, Carey Young and Mark Waller
Imperial College Gallery and the Queen's Tower, Imperial College,
Exhibition Road, London SW7
until 26th November 1998
tours the UK in 1999
---
'Atomic' - a controversial new exhibition, confronts our fears and
assumptions about science and the nuclear industry.
Featuring the work of American sculptor James Acord - the only private
individual in the world licensed to own and handle radioactive materials
- 'Atomic' deals with the tricky issue of the idealism behind the 'white
heat of technology' of the fifties and sixties and attempts to break
down the wall of secrecy which has shielded the nuclear industry since
the cold war.
Acord's deadly serious ambition to build a 'nuclear stonehenge' on a
heavily contaminated site at Hanford - home of the Bomb - has led him
into a tragi-comic dance with the US Department of Energy. Atomic leads
us through his perilous 15-year journey to a site-specific display of
his nuclear reliquaries - specially commissioned for his UK residency -
and introduces the complementary work of two young British artists,
Carey Young and Mark Waller.
As a counterpoint, Young travelled to the former USSR to photograph the
remnants of the Space Race. She portrays these technological crown
jewels as they lie stranded in the present, like the scattering of an
unruly time capsule. Removed from the familiar iconography of science
fiction or Cold War paranoia, these little-seen giants of the Twentieth
Century imagination appear small and vulnerable, like the shock of
celebrity glimpsed in the flesh.
Meanwhile, Waller gained access to some of Britain's nuclear power
stations to film a short thriller, shown as an installation, about
itinerant nuclear power workers who mysteriously develop superhuman
qualities, featuring Mark E. Smith of the Fall. Post-shift in the early
hours of the morning, the deranged jokes of the contractors lean over
into belief as they talk of their superhuman prowess, metamorphosed by
radiation.
'Atomic' is organised by the science-art agency The Arts Catalyst, who
specialise in unusual collaborations between artists and scientists.
Their next project will be with a dancer who works in zero gravity,
courtesy of the French Space Agency.
------------
colour catalogue available, with an essay by James Flint, price ? 9.95
Press: for interviews and photos contact Anastasia Calder:
tel +44 171 375 3690
fax +44 171 377 0298
email: supanova {AT} artscat.demon.co.uk
More information on the show and on The Arts Catalyst
http://www.artscat.demon.co.uk/prog.htm
................................................................... 03
Subject: Exhibition Announcement
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 23:46:24 -0400
From: nomadnet <nomads {AT} nomadnet.org>
Open Spaces/Linked Locations II: Sound Environments
"Sound Environments," the second in an on-going series of Open
Spaces/Linked Locations exhibitions, is now on-view at
http://www.nomadnet.org/nomadnet/spaces.html
"Sound Environments" brings together three net.art projects which utilize
sound to create a variety of circumstances for aural/visual encounters.
Works featured include:
The Keybored Lounge by Beth Carey
One Night in Greenwich Village by Jeannette Lambert
Man Ray Speaks by the New Analysts (Steve Bradley and John Hudak)
Open Spaces/Linked Locations is organized by NOMADS. For more information
contact NOMADS at nomads {AT} nomadnet.org
Laura McGough
Co-Director
NOMADS
www.nomadnet.org
................................................................... 04
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1998 23:33:37 +0000
From: "Gerald O'Connell" <goc {AT} gacoc.demon.co.uk>
Subject: ArtVirus Alert
details at
http://www.gacoc.demon.co.uk/artvirus1.htm
please forward this to all Internet artists with whom you are in
contact.
Gerald O'Connell
http://www.gacoc.demon.co.uk/
................................................................... 05
> From: "Jebediah Brushwell" <memeflurry {AT} hotmail.com>
> To: email {AT} fringeware.com
> Subject: MEME - memeflurry '98
> Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 08:41:05 PST
>
> What follows is a little project I'm working on that I thought you
> might like to help out with... pass it on.
>
> JPB
>
> [ mod's note: we've worked with JPB on another matter recently,
> and recommend this action too... btw, the time for this event
> corresponds to the exactl moment when Robert Anton Wilson will
> begin his booksigning at FringeWare.
> ]
>
> ******************************************************************
>
> Hello.
>
> You are receiving this message because you are linked to an
> information network that a whole lot of other people are linked to,
> including me, the author of the lines you are now reading. Within
> this network exists a (probably quite convoluted) chain of other
> individuals and other networks that have indirectly connected each of
> us to the other.
>
> One thing that you've probably noticed about being attached to this
> network is that it has the tendency to transmit a lot of junk.
> messages that have no relevance to you, chain letters, jokes you've
> seen forwarded a half-dozen times, spurious rumors, petitions on
> issues that you may or may not care about. Spam. Data noise.
>
> I'm interested in the way that information like that survives in the
> Net, and I'm working on a project that will investigate the ability of
> a single piece of information (namely, this message) to survive and
> spread. This message is going to ask for your participation in this
> project. If the project doesn't interest you, I apologize for adding
> to the volume of unsolicited e-mails you receive in a given day. My
> intent is not to burden people with more information, but rather to
> explore how information works in a network, and, ultimately, to use
> the Net's information-spreading ability to *transform* an ordinary
> public space into an art-site, and to *produce* a collective,
> Net-authored artwork. Each participant will receive a copy of the
> completed work. If this sounds interesting, keep reading: if not, I
> apologize for taking up your time.
>
> Without further ado, the project:
>
> *****************************MEMEFLURRY 98*************************
>
> One model of information theory is the *meme* model. I don't have
> room here for more than a brief simplification of meme theory, but it
> basically thinks about units of information (or "memes") as though
> they were simple organisms--some survive and reproduce, and others
> die. The goal of MemeFlurry 98 is to keep the meme outlined below
> alive and reproducing for three weeks, at which time there will be a
> sort of "family reunion."
>
> On Saturday, December 5th, at 3 pm, Eastern Standard Time, call one of
> the following phone numbers. These numbers will connect you to a bank
> of public phones in the University of Arizona Student Union Building.
>
> * 520-791-0126 *
> * 520-791-0181 *
> * 520-791-0152 *
> * 520-622-9605 *
> * 520-622-9104 *
>
> I will answer calls for approximately 3 hours. Of course, since these
> calls are being directed to a public site, and since I will not be
> able to answer all the phones simultaneously, other people not
> associated with the MemeFlurry 98 project might also answer these
> calls. I think this interjects a necessary dose of chaos into the
> project.
>
> If I answer the call, I'll ask you where you are from (I want to see
> how far the meme has spread) and I will ask you to provide me with
> *one sentence* from something that you ve read that day--any sentence,
> from any source--cereal box, morning paper, novel, personal letter,
> whatever. In short, I want you to call up Tucson and provide me with
> a meme you've been exposed to that day. The memes collected in this
> fashion will be arranged into one piece of text, a collectively-
> authored meme-poem, a portrait of the world of December 5, 1998. If
> you wish, I will take down your e-mail or snail-mail address so I can
> provide you with a copy of the completed "poem."
>
> This project has the potential to transform an ordinary bank of pay
> phones into a temporary gathering point for people all around the
> globe, to make an everyday hallway in a University building into a
> zone that will perplex and intruige passers-by in the way that art
> should, to take the ordinary elements of our lives (the phone, the
> computer, the thousands of bits of text that surround us wherever we
> are) and use them as the raw materials for the creation of something
> extraordinary.
>
> It can only do those things if the message survives. So, even if you
> can't or don't want to participate, please consider passing this
> message on to someone who might be interested.
>
> Thanks for your time and attention,
> Jebediah Brushwell
>
> *******************************************************
>
> (For more information, write memeflurry {AT} hotmail.com.)
> (This project is an expansion of a similar project by UK artist Heath
> Bunting. My intentions are not to copy him or take the credit he
> deserves, but rather to perform a variation on his experiment, somewhat
> in the spirit of the scientific method.)
> (For more on memes, check out www.lucifer.com/virus/memlex.html, or
> Richard Dawkins' book The Selfish Gene.)
>
> *******************************************************
>
> "...all play is a voluntary activity...it is free, it is in fact
> *freedom*. A second characteristic: play is not 'ordinary' or 'real'
> life. It is rather a stepping out of 'real' life into a temporary
> sphere of activity with a disposition all of its own...Another, very
> positive, feature of play: it creates order, is order. Into an
> imperfect world and the confusion of life it brings a temporary,
> limited perfection."
> --J. Huizinga
>
> "Theatre takes place all the time, wherever one is. And art simply
> facilitates persuading one this is the case."
> --John Cage
................................................................... 06
Date: Sat, 14 Nov 1998 00:14:28 +0800
From: Jon Stratton <rstratto {AT} cc.curtin.edu.au>
Reply-To: cultstud-l {AT} nosferatu.cas.usf.edu
To: cultstud-l {AT} nosferatu.cas.usf.edu
Subject: Race Daze
Hi All,
This is a piece of self-promotion. Pluto Australia have just published
my latest book. It is on race, multiculturalism and national identity in
Australia in the 1990s. The book is called _Race Daze: Australia in Identity
Crisis_. As many of you will know multiculturalism is official government
policy in Australia. This book takes a critical look at what kind of
multiculturalism is being promoted. I discuss the construction of whiteness
in Australia, and argue that Australian multiculturalism was developed to
deal with the problems caused by the non-assimilation of southern European
migrants who came to Australia in the 1950s and 1960s. I examine the
implications for 'Asians' in Australia.
The contents range from a discussion of the political rhetoric that is
used, including a lengthy consideration of that of the right-wing populist
Pauline Hanson, through to a chapter that examines a variety of Australian
films, including Crocodile Dundee, Strictly Ballroom, and The Adventures of
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Other chapters include one on
multiculturalism and national identity, and one on multiculturalism and the
issue of Australia becoming a republic.
_Race Daze_ is published by Pluto Australia. Unfortunately, Pluto does
not have a distribution deal outside of Australia, therefore for those of
you outside of Australia, copies must be purchased direct from Pluto
Australia. The ISBN is ISBN 1 8640 3053 4. The cost is RRP $24.95.
These are
*Australian* dollars, so that's pretty cheap when converted into American
dollars or sterling!
You can email Amanda Perram for further details on:
amandap {AT} socialchange.net.au
Amanda will also be happy to take your orders.
Pluto Australia's website can be found at:
http://www.socialchange.net.au/pluto
_Race Daze_ will be advertised on the Pluto website by Monday 16th November.
(If you don't want to buy one -- or even if you do -- perhaps your
institution's library should have one!)
thank you for your time,
Jon (Stratton)
................................................................... 07
Von: blank {AT} sero.org (J. Blank HGB Leipzig)
Datum: 16.11.98, 13:47:54
Betreff: slashtemp
Einladung zur Ausstellungseroeffnung:
"slashtemp"
Ein Ausstellungsprojekt der Hochschule fuer Grafik und Buchkunst
Leipzig.
Eroeffnung: Freitag, 20.11.98 um 20.00 Uhr
Ort: Kontorhaus Berlin-Mitte, Friedrichstr. 185-190, Ecke Kronenstr.,
U-Bahn Stadtmitte
Ausstellung: 21.11.98 - 18.12.98, Oeffnungszeiten: 14.00 Uhr - 20.00 Uhr
--
Die Ausstellung mit dem Titel "slashtemp", an der 13 Studenten und
Studentinnen der Fachbereiche Fotografie und Medienkunst beteiligt sind,
wird vom 21.11 bis 18.12.1998 im Kontorhaus Berlin-Mitte in Kooperation
mit der Galerie Matthias Kampl gezeigt.
"slashtemp" versucht auf kuenstlerische Weise eine Verknuepfung der, den
"Neuen Medien" eigenen Problematiken und Anliegen, mit Kultur- und
Konsumerscheinungen der Umgebung Friedrichstrasse und Berlin.
Die praesentierten, studentischen Arbeiten thematisieren die Spannung
zwischen Kunst und Nicht-Kunst, Funktion und Nicht-Funktion, indem die
dort ansaessigen Geschaefte sowie die architektonischen Eigenheiten des
Gebaeudes in die Ausstellung einbezogen werden. Auf einer Flaeche von
ca. 1000 qm werden Skulpturen, Installationen sowie Foto-, Video- und
Audioarbeiten den Lichthof des Kontorhauses und einen daran
angegliederten Raum bespielen.
Weitere Infos ueber blank {AT} sero.org / hattenkerl {AT} hgb-leipzig.de
Hochschule fuer Grafik und Buchkunst
Oeffentlichkeitsarbeit Frau Schuck
Waechterstr. 11
04107 Leipzig
presse {AT} hgb-leipzig.de
................................................................... 08
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 01:35:58 +0100
From: Alessandro Ludovico <a.ludovico {AT} agora.stm.it>
To: Multiple recipients of <announcer {AT} simsim.rug.ac.be>
Subject: ann! ... Neural, cyberculture magazine
Status: RO
X-Status:
NEURAL is an indipendent quarterly printed magazine, in Italian, about the
digital culture at large.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Neural Online
http://www.pandora.it/neural/
biweekly online supplement to the magazine: news and shareware
-----------------------------------------------------------
Neural Station
Every wednesday from 22:30 to 23:30
Electronic music and digital culture news bits
aired on Controradio Bari (Popolare Network) 97.3 Mhz
-----------------------------------------------------------
Brain Machine, light&sound for your mind exploration:
Mind Gear and Xcelr8r II.
Info: http://www.pandora.it/neural/brain/iindex.html
-----------------------------------------------------------
Issue #13
.
> Exclusive
Dead Media: Bruce Sterling interview.
.
> > Free
OPTICAL poster.
.
> DATA.FLOW
Mail/Classifieds,
News (Webloc, Vatican and China, Fragapalooza, DefCon 6, Autocloning...),
Fetish (Blade Runner T-shirt, Budvase, Document Clip),
Quotes,
.
> MULTI.MEDIA
Psychoactive vegetables and Playstation
Techno culture: reviews: CD-ROM: Choonz and Wares, ZINE: Crash, In-form-z,
Mediamatic, BOOKS: Apple T-shirts, Hard Soft and Wet, Gens Electrica,
VIDEO: Landlock,
.
> INTER.RETE
Inter.Libri reviews: BOOKS: Kriptonite, Computer in Rete, Internet Explorer
4, CD-ROM: Zone Digitali,
Cyber.Sex: Cleo Odzer interview, News, recensioni: CD-ROM: Rachel, CD: Suck
It And See
Hackit98,
Founded Electronic Frontiers,
Telematic Repression,
.
> SUONI.FUTURI
Music.Bits reviews: CD-ROM: Interglobal Alien Mar, Shift Control, Launch,
ZINE: Self,
Audio signals music reviews (Fila Brazillia, Fantastic Plastic Machine,
Clifford Gilberto, Pizzicato Five, It, Vasilisk, Front Line Assembly, Vidna
Obmana, Freezone 5, Future Sound of Budapest, Endlessnessism, Aliens in
Roma...),
Sonar 98,
Front 242 interview,
Boards of Canada interview,
Theatrum Chemicum interview,
Singles (The Irresistible Force, Headrillaz, Minox/Lydia Lunch Aikido...),
.
> CO.SCIENZA
Art.Design.Fashion reviews BOOKS: Mondo Underground, ZINE: Neo2, Welcomex,
CD: Word Up Baltimore,
No Copyright Warriors,
Digitized rage,
Virgo consortium,
Art.Presence,
.
> FANTA.SCIENZA
Orion news (Star Trek, X-Files, Steampunk, Carmilla, Lost in Space...)
When worlds collide,
Dottor Ware, comic by Alberto Corradi,
U.F.O.: Men In Black.
On sale directly, via mail-order, and in Italian alternative bookstores.
-------------------------------------------------------
Info:
NEURAL - via Palmieri 31 - 70125 Bari
Tel. - Fax 080/5010950 * e-mail a.ludovico {AT} agora.stm.it
-------------------------------------------------------
................................................................... 09
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 12:18:15 +0100
To: nettime-l {AT} Desk.nl
From: andreas hagenbach <aah {AT} thing.ch>
Subject: Fwd: Anti-MAI-Kampagne
[silence around the MAI - german/french readers may get semi-official
papers/andreas]
<excerpt>
Subject: Anti-MAI-Kampagne
gazette.de ist von Haus aus eine literarisch-kulturpolitische
Monatszeitschrift, aber au=DFerdem ist sie erstens kritisch und
respektlos und zweitens enth=E4lt jede Nummer ein
MAI-Special.
Hier finden Sie monatlich Nachrichten zum wechselnden Schicksal des
Multilateralen Abkommens =FCber Investitionen sowie l=E4ngere
Text-Dokumentationen.
In der November-Nummer zum Beispiel steht der Original-Bericht von
Catherine und Jean-Pierre Landau, den der franz=F6sische Premierminister
angefordert hat, um damit am 14. Oktober seinen Boykott der
OECD-Sitzung vom 20. Oktober zu begr=FCnden.
Der Bericht **in franz=F6sischer Sprache** enth=E4lt - eine Untersuchung
der Gr=FCnde f=FCr die Ablehnung des Vertragsentwurfs,
- eine Analyse des Verhandlunsmodus,
- Vorschl=E4ge f=FCr weitere Verhandlungen,
- eine Liste der interviewten Personen und Organisationen sowie
- ausf=FChrliche Statistiken der Auslandsinvestitionen der gr=F6=DFten
OECD-L=E4nder 1997.
http://www.gazette.de
</excerpt>
................................................................... 10
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 15:05:58 +0100
From: dogfilm <dogfilm {AT} bln.de>
Subject: Invitation-Einladung
The Association for Strategic Accidents
presents
lecture: Access All Accidents
Sun. 11/22/98
2 PM at Bonheur in Rotterdam
Eendrachtsstraat 79/81, 3012 XH, Rotterdam, tel: ++31 (0)10 413
2536
this lecture is/was brought to you with the kind support of
dogfilm
DEAF98 "The Art of the Accident"
org by V2 Rotterdam NL
check it out: http://www.v2.nl/deaf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Access All Accidents"
A lecture {AT} DEAF98
by Ed van Megen from the Association for Strategic Accidents
(ASA)
Abstract:
In 1990 The Association for Strategic Accidents was founded by
its
current president William E. Kurz. Shortly after the breakdown of
the
communist systems in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, people
from
western societies showed a dramatic change in lifestyle. A change
that
was motivated by a hunger for adventure. People were ready for a
new
standard and they showed an increasing tendency towards
risk-taking
behavior. Especially the hype of extreme sports such as
bunge-jumping
were supporting this trend. Science however (confirmed by the
publications of the Society of Risk Analysis) ignored this
phenomenon
and kept focusing on modernization risks, those risks that are
undergone
by individuals on an involuntary basis and mainly caused by
industry.
The foundation of the ASA was an attempt to make the concept of
"voluntarily sought risk" popular. The motivation to proclaim
this was,
and again still is, very simple. If risk-taking behavior is an
essential
part of human conduct, then we have to shift this away from
exploiting
nature and transpose this into culture.
The ASA claims that if we want to be progressive in a social as
well as
technological sense, we have to deal with the construction of
risk. In
our so called free market economy the social production of wealth
is
inevitably bound to the social production of risk and the
accident is
the manifestation of this axiom. The accident reveals the true
identity
of an object. So therefore we have to stop rationalizing the
concept of
"the accident" out of the way and start dealing with this concept
in a
much more productive way. The paradox we all struggle with is
that
security can only be gained by experiencing risky situations or
accidents. In order to progress, the more sincere motivation
would be to
experience risky situations and accidents rather than the
existing
hypocrite attitude of gaining security. We have to realize that
if we
choose for technological progress, the accident is a constructive
instead of a destructive moment in the process of improvement.
The
accident carries a truly creative moment, the moment where
expectations
are being shattered. And after all, it would only be fair to
expose the
consumer to those possibilities that are until now the stowaways
of
technological development.
Paul Virilio wrote 1979, that the foundation of a "Museum of
Accidents"
was long overdue. In this museum; "every technology and every
scientific
discipline should choose their own specific accident and show it
as a
product. Not in a moral way, out of prevention (as a security
measure),
no, as a product that should be questioned epistimotechnically"
(from:
"Der Urfall (Accidens Orginale)"; Tumult, magazine for the
science of
traffic, 1979). This thought of Virillo stood at the cradle of
the
Association for Strategic Accidents.
In the beginning, the anthology of ASA projects dealt with such
topics
as advertisement, the non-helping-bystander effect or risk
tourism. In
recent years the focus of interest within the ASA has developed
from
exploring the role "fear" plays within the construction of risk
towards
the close encounter of the physical and electronic accident. A
special
research issue in the last years has been the phenomenon of the
"Diamond
Experience". People who take a voluntary risk and people who are
involved in an accident, talk in a similar way about their
experiences.
It seems as if the recall causes a kind of euphoria or a feeling
of
victory. In the "Fear Edition" (see also url) William E. Kurz
named
these paradox states of emotions, "Diamond Experience".
What all ASA projects have in common is that they use a strategy
of
transparency, they articulate a techno criticism that is part of
the
technology itself. We cannot deny that we are using specific
technologies for the realization of our social and political
ideas. We
cannot deny that there is a field of tension between acquiring
those
technologies and simultaneously analyzing them. We cannot deny
that there is a conflict between seeing the opportunities,
especially
for individuals, and hazards especially for society, of
accidents.
Out of this conflictcomes the need for transparency and if the
accident is already
coproduced when a new technology prospers then we have to
proclaim
access to all accidents.
url:
http://www.icf.de/asahttp://www.bln.de/dogfilm
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